He quarterbacked the NFL’s most entertaining offense, put up staggering numbers and can use his MVP trophies as bookends. But when the playoffs roll around, he’s back to jitterbugging in the pocket against his old nemesis. And wouldn’t you know it, they’re coming to town now – the only thing that stands between him and the Super Bowl.

Peyton Manning? Not quite.

Try Steve Young, circa 1994.

Just as Manning and the Indianapolis Colts can’t seem to get past New England, Young couldn’t seem to get his SanFrancisco 49ers past the Dallas Cowboys.

Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman and Charles Haley tormented Young then, just as much as Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Tedy Bruschi are torturing Manning now.

“It’s very similar,” Young said in a phone interview. “We got to a point where there was a sense that if we didn’t do it – if I didn’t do it … it was literally do-or-die. We had to get this done.

“There’s such a need for Peyton Manning to win this game. You can have all the success in the world, but if you don’t win a Super Bowl, something is missing. You can make all the arguments you want about how it’s a team game and you can’t drag a team to the Super Bowl, which is all probably true. But the fact is that’s all people talk about, so unless you live on Mars, you may as well face it.”

Young remembers facing the music all too well.

After losing at home to the Cowboys in the 1992 NFC championship game and then being routed in Dallas the following year – as the Cowboys went on to back-to-back Super Bowl titles – all Young heard was that he was no Joe Montana and couldn’t win the big one.

Young and the 49ers finally broke through on their third try.

They beat the Cowboys 38-28 in the 1994 NFC Championship game, a victory that sent them on to the Super Bowl, where they trounced San Diego, 49-26, a game in which Young threw a record six touchdown passes and was named the game’s MVP.

On Sunday, Manning gets his third crack at New England, which knocked the Colts out of the playoffs in 2003 and 2004 on the way to winning back-to-back Super Bowl titles.

This time, the Colts get to play the Patriots at home, in the comforts of their domed stadium, where they’re unbeaten this season. And they at least know they can beat New England in the regular season, something they’ve done the past two seasons.

“You’re 60 minutes away from the Super Bowl and sitting there is a Patriots team that’s still dangerous, but it’s not the team that won the previous Super Bowl,” Young said. “If I was in that spot, this is the one I’ve got to have. That adds more pressure, but how can you add more pressure to 100 percent pressure?”

Young freely admits that the Cowboys were in his head by the third time, and he says the same is true of Manning and the Patriots. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“That’s a fact,” Young said. “If you say they’re not in your head, you’re crazy. Of course they are – that’s who’s stopping you from getting to the Super Bowl. People started making it a negative – `Oh, he’s freaked out.’ But the fact that they’re in your head means you’re focused: `We’ve got to beat these guys.”‘

Manning may have something else to worry about this week. Unlike in past years, when he went into New England having carved up an opponent, the Colts’ defense carried them past Kansas City and Baltimore, allowing a total of 14 points.

While Manning has made big throws when he has needed them – particularly a pinpoint pass to Dallas Clark on the game-clinching drive against Baltimore – he has thrown one touchdown and five interceptions in the playoffs.

“He’s throwing more careless footballs this postseason and he’s gotten away with it, but Tom Brady is grateful, too,” Young said. “I think Peyton will be himself – he’s not going to be not aggressive. The only reason I’d be worried is if he throws picks early. Then it’s like, `Gosh, it’s happening again.”‘